Share this:

Following the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota by police last week, the Louisville chapter of Black Lives Matter held a vigil on Sunday in remembrance of the two men. More than 400 people marched from the Carl Braden Memorial Center in West Louisville down Broadway.

I sat down with activist and co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Louisville Chanelle Helm before the vigil took place to get her take on the relationship between police and marginalized communities in Louisville.

“The city has a vigil for the Dallas police officers who got shot. In a city called ‘Compassionate City,’ where are the vigils for the people who get killed every day by shootings?”

On reforms she’d like to see to make relationships between police and communities of color better:

“We definitely need to cut down on patrols. Because people don’t need to be watched. People need to be helped. If we actually want people to be protected and served by the police, then we actually have to push for that.”

We asked the Louisville Metro Police Department to comment on their interactions with Black Lives Matter, but they declined. We also asked the department for a sit-down interview with Chief Steve Conrad, which they also declined.